PREFACE

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TRANSFORMING GEOLOGICAL AND LANDISLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY MAPPING DATA TO LINKED (OPEN) DATA FOR HAZARD MANAGEMENT

Η έλλειψη ενημέρωσης για τους πληθυσμούς που είναι εκτεθειμένοι σε κατολισθητικούς κινδύνους είναι μια κοινωνικο-οικονομική συνιστώσα της τρωτότητας του κοινωνικού ιστού και μπορεί να αυξήσει τον κίνδυνο απώλειας ζωών και υποδομών. Οι χρήστες αυτών των πληροφοριών χρειάζονται πολλά δεδομένα από κατολισθητικές περιοχές έτσι ώστε να καταστήσουν τις υπάρχουσες υποδομές πιο ανθεκτικές σε πιθανό καταστροφικό συμβάν. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, οι ιδιωτικοί και δημόσιοι οργανισμοί θα έχουν πχ τη δυνατότητα να επιλέξουν μεταξύ διαφορετικών χρήσεων γης για να ελαχιστοποιηθεί ο κίνδυνος υπαρχόντων υποδομών ή για τη μείωση του ίδιου του κινδύνου (μέσω μέτρων άμβλυνσης του). Από την άλλη πλευρά, οι χωροτάκτες μπορούν να πάρουν πιο ρεαλιστικές αποφάσεις πριν να προγραμματίσουν νέες υποδομές, σε 1684 περιοχές με υψηλό κατολισθητικό κίνδυνο. Έχουμε εφαρμόσει νέα εργαλεία για να αναπτύξουμε υπηρεσίες που είναι διαθέσιμες σε κάθε ενδιαφερόμενο, για τον εντοπισμό περιοχών επιδεκτικών σε κατολισθήσεις και που βασίζονται σε διαδικτυακές υπηρεσίες προκειμένου να παράσχουμε στους ενδιαφερόμενους φορείς πολύτιμες πληροφορίες σχετικά με την παλιότερη κατανομή των κατολισθήσεων σε μια περιοχή, τον τύπο των πετρωμάτων, τις βροχοπτώσεις κλπ με σκοπό να διαμορφώσουν πολιτικές χρήσης και να αξιολογήσουν μια επικείμενη κατολίσθηση.The frequent lack of information to populations exposed to landslides is a component of the social vulnerability and can strongly increase the risk on lives and infrastructures. Determining the extent of the landslide hazard requires identifying those areas which could be affected by a damaging landslide. The users need to integrate different landslide data in order to first understand and then possibly become resilient to any potential catastrophic event. More precisely, public and private organizations can choose between different land use options to minimize the risk on the already existing infrastructures or to reduce the hazard itself through mitigation measures. From the other hand, the land use planners can also take best decisions before planning new infrastructures in high risk landslides’ areas. Based on these data we have also implemented new tools, available every day and reusable by anyone interested, to identify land areas susceptible for landslides. The tools are based on cloud web services, especially for the management and presentation of these datasets in order to provide stakeholders with valuable information about past distribution of the landslides, type of bed rock, rainfall etc. in order to focus on land use policies and assess an impending landslide.

Analysis of quantitative profiles of GI education: towards an analytical basis for EduMapping

Agent-oriented models are used in organization and information system modelling for providing intentional descriptions of processes as a network of relationships among actors. As such, they capture and represent goals, dependencies, intentions, beliefs, alternatives, etc., which appear in several contexts: business process reengineering, information system development, etc. In this paper, we are interested in the definition of a framework for the analysis of the properties that these models exhibit. Indicators and metrics for these properties are defined in terms of the model elements (e.g., actors, dependencies, scenario paths, etc.) Our approach is basically quantitative in nature, which allows defining indicators and metrics that can be reused in many contexts. However, a qualitative component can be introduced if trustable expert knowledge is available; the extent up to which quantitative and qualitative aspects are intertwined can be determined in every single case. We apply our proposal to the i* notation and we take as main case study a highly-intentional property, predictability of model element

Towards Innovative Ways to Assess Annoyance

Technological changes have driven the developments in the field of noise annoyance research. It helped to increase knowledge on the topic substantially. It also provides opportunities to conduct novel research. The introduction of the internet, the mobile phone, and miniaturisation and improved sensor technology are at the core of the three research examples presented in this chapter. The first example is the use of a Virtual Reality simulation to evaluate aircraft flyovers in different environments, and it examines how visual perception influences noise annoyance. The second example describes the use of a mobile application applying an Experience Sampling Method to assess noise annoyance for a group of people living near an airport. The third and final example is a study over social media discussions in relation to noise annoyance and quality of life around airports. These three examples demonstrate how novel technologies help to collect and analyse data from people who live around airports, and so improve our understanding of the effect of noise on humans

Personalisation services for self e-learning networks

This chapter describes personalisation services for self e-learning networks. A self e-learning network consists of web-based learning objects that have been made available to the network by its users, along with metadata descriptions of these learning objects and of the network's users. The proposed personalisation facilities include: querying learning object descriptions to return results tailored towards users' individual goals and preferences; the ability to define views over the learning object metadata; facilities for defining new composite learning objects and automatically deriving their descriptions; and facilities for subscribing to personalised event and change notification services. The personalisation facilities are realised using a combination of Semantic Web technologies including RDF/S, RQL, RVL, and RDF ECA rules

Reducing noise impact and improving quality of life by addressing annoyance

Aircraft noise is the most significant impact on communities residing near airports. But in addition to acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors also contribute to noise annoyance. In the ANIMA project, relevant indicators influencing the quality of life of residents living near an airport are identified. Literature studies, but also focus group meetings, workshops, and online surveys for communities near altogether nine different European airports are performed to understand the role of the airport and the implications on the well-being of citizens. Furthermore, it is intended to study what current communication strategies of the airports are and how they influence the impact of aircraft noise on residents’ annoyance response and well-being. A detailed literature study as well as a re-analysis of data has been carried out to develop awakenings indicators for nocturnal fly-overs, as noise-induced sleep disturbance has been linked to adverse health effects and is also associated with annoyance. Another study will be conducted to understand human visual perception of aircraft and their noise levels using a noise simulator with Virtual Reality glasses, where different aircraft types and their noise impact will be compared in a laboratory study and later in an “in situ” experiment. Finally, people’s perception of environmental sound near the airport and the relation with land use planning will be evaluated by developing a mobile application to be used around Heathrow and Ljubljana Airport. Together with a carefully crafted social media study, data on property-value and movement of people throughout the day, we hope to establish more evidence on the relationship between land-use planning, noise perception and quality of life. The outcomes of all studies will be tested later in intervention studies and, or integrated into a Best-Practice portal that will be available for airports, governments, communities, and other stakeholders